Enzyme Purification

The growing importance of enzymes for the food, biotech, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries, among others, has increased the need for efficient methods to isolate and process them to the purities required for a particular application. With the protein purification techniques available today, most enzymes can be purified to the required quality and homogeneity. However, the costs associated with multi-stage separation processes are sometimes very high and account for a considerable proportion of the total production costs. This chapter introduces the general aspects of enzyme purification, an indispensable prerequisite for the technical and medical use of enzymes. Accordingly, industrial, analytical, and therapeutic uses of enzymes will be distinguished because the application strongly influences the required purity. Following a short overview of common separation technologies and the underlying physicochemical principles, examples of the most important processes will be described in more detail. Finally, the reader will be guided through the multi-step purification process of an important therapeutic enzyme.